The present invention relates to a label comprising at least one pasting part comprising an adhesive agent for pasting the label to an object and comprising a holding part for holding an electronic device, preferably for radio frequency identification (RFID) and to a method for applying such a label to an object, as well as an object with a label and a device for applying the label to an object.
Such labels are commonly known in the art. The electronic device is usually referred to as a RFID tag which comprises an antenna which is connected to an integrated circuit including a receiver and a transmitter. Due to the integrated circuit, these are also referred to as IC tags. Of course, the electronic device can comprise different components and is not necessarily limited to a specific RFID tag.
Labels comprising a RFID tag are used for example for tracing, recognising and identifying different objects such as beverages, blister packs, cartons, pallets, etc. Generally, a label comprising a RFID tag is usually referred to as a “smart” RFID label.
It should be noted that it is also known to use RFID tags as theft prevention on goods, in particular valuable goods such as clothing, bottles of whiskey, etc. However, these latter RFID tags are generally not connected to a memory provided for storing data related to the object, since the tag is generally only calibrated to a particular resonant frequency, provided to react and trigger an alarm signal when the object with the tag passes a gate where the resonant frequency is detected.
In recent years, there has been active development of RFID (radio frequency ID), which is a technique that uses wireless communications to perform reading and writing on IC chips.
The operating principle of this technique will be described with reference to FIG. 21.
In the RFID 5, an IC tag 4 (called an inlet or inlay) consisting of a thin film 3 containing an IC chip 1 and an antenna 2 is worked into a label, plastic card or suspended tag; this is used by being pasted to or suspended from the object that is being controlled.
A coil form antenna 2 is connected to the IC chip 1 that forms the essential part of the IC tag 4; when electromagnetic waves from a reader-writer 6 strike this antenna, a current is generated, and the IC chip 1 is driven using this current, so that data transmitted from the reader-writer 6 is received, and information stored in the memory of the IC chip 1 itself is transmitted by wireless transmission.
A memory is contained in the IC chip 1; this memory ordinarily includes a system region that cannot be rewritten, and a user data region that can be rewritten (some chips do not have a region that can be rewritten).
Since the information contained in the system region is invariable, this information cannot be falsified or copied, and is therefore superior in terms of security. Various frequencies are used in RFID, such as long wave at several hundred kilohertz, short wave at several tens of megahertz, UHF at several hundred megahertz, microwave at several gigahertz and the like. This also varies slightly according to the country involved. Characteristics such as communications distance, directionality, communications rate, noise, electromagnetic interference and the like vary according to the frequency used, so that it is necessary to select this frequency in accordance with the object of utilization and the surrounding environment.
Furthermore, though this also varies according to the frequency, electromagnetic waves are absorbed by metals and water especially in RFID in the UHF band; accordingly, if metals or water are present in the vicinity of the reader or IC tag, there may be instances in which information of the IC tag cannot be read or written.
In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to remove the offending object, or to utilize a special IC tag and frequency that are unaffected.
There are also other situations where the performance of the label is not sufficient. Depending on the composition or shape of the object on which the tag or label is affixed, the performance of the tag can be greatly impeded due to the nature of RFID and the laws of physics. In these cases, human intervention is generally required either for orienting the object or manually entering the data of the tag into a computer system, which would normally have been transmitted from the RFID tag. This human intervention increases the costs and chances of error, and slows down the whole identifying operation.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an RFID tag carrying label, which enables an enhanced performance when data processing with the tag is requested, in particular reading or writing over greater distances. It is furthermore an object of the present invention to allow to attach the label to an object so that the label is separated from the object by a specific distance, thus preventing a shortening of the communication distance by absorption or reflection of electromagnetic waves due to the effects of the material of contents (metal, moisture or the like) of the container or the like that constitutes the object.